The Student Insurgent Issue 33.6 "The Misandry Issue"

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GREEXNESFROM
WANES REVENGE

A warm hello to all readers of the Student Insurgent and
defenders of reproductive rights everywhere.

As you may know by now, we are on the verge of losing reproductive
autonomy nationwide. This egregious violation of human rights should shock and
disgust anyone with the most basic sense of compassion. With a single unappealable
decision penned by a handful of unelected, black-robed ghouls, tens of millions of people
will no longer be in full control of their own medical choices. For generations, women
have been forced to suffer unwanted pregnancies and made to rent out their reproductive
capacity in service of patriarchy. We and our rights have been sacrificed on the altar of “the
unborn” time and time again throughout history, and history has come knocking once
more.

But also in history is our resistance. We have banded together in the past to resist
domination by theocrats, fascists, and patriarchs. We will do so again. Just as the Jane
Collective in Chicago half a century ago helped women get abortions in secret, we, Jane’s
Revenge, will fight to maintain the right that our mothers and grandmothers fought for.
Even though we here in Oregon have codified abortion access, this is not forever, not
everyone lives in states that recognize this right, and there are local elements that will
attempt to deny us from exercising our autonomy regardless.

We have been shot at, had our clinics bombed, and had our doctors assassinated. The
only language that the fascist speaks is violence. The only absolution the theocrat preaches
is abuse. The only tool of the patriarch is coercion. At every turn, they deny us our right to
self-determination, whether that be making reproductive choices, experiencing the joy of
gay love, receiving gender-affirming care, or simply refusing to be in their control. And if
you aren't completely on their side, they will eventually come for you too.

We cannot beg for our rights, nor can we beg for ineffectual leaders to save us. Even
in a historically revolutionary city like Eugene, the forced-birthers attempt to sink their
claws in, with so-called “pregnancy crisis centers” that lie to vulnerable women i n
desperate need of care, and brutish, heartless fascists who intimidate and
threaten women, doctors, and anyone who doesnt fit in their disgusting vision
for America. They are here. They must be opposed in any way possible.

Jane’s Revenge is not just a group (though we do have cells all over the
country) but also an idea. If you are against fascism, you are an anti-fascist.
If you are a defender of reproductive rights for all, you are part of Jane’s
Revenge. We must do what politicians cannot, and defend ourselves and
our autonomy with everything we have. We have already performed direct
action against the forced-birther movement. And as long as the shadow of

white supremacist theocracy looms over America, we will only escalate. This is not a
threat. It is a promise. We invite you to take part, to organize alongside us. We will build
a safe future together.

And to those who wish to force births and subservience, to those who want to

perpetuate coercion, abuse, and suffering, we only have this to say:

®

Hf abortions aren’t safe, then netther are pou.

For autonomy, for self determination, for joy.
Jane's Revenge
Little Lark Memorial Cell

Forwarded from an anonymous trusted source

i es end of the protections
enshrined by Roe v. Wade
appears imminent. After 49 years
of precedent, the Supreme Court is
poised to roll back the constitutional
right to abortion. In the coming
weeks, the ruling will be officially
issued by the highest court in
America, leading to a spate of
drastic abortion bans across broad
swathes of America. While Roe is
already effectively dead and has been
since the Texas abortion ban last
summer, the official end of a national
right to abortion will have grave
consequences.

In the leaked draft, Justice
Alito outlined his reasoning for
overturning nearly five decades of
what was considered “settled law’,
which, for brevity’s sake, all but
nullifies the constitutional right
to privacy as well as the concept
of “unenumerated rights” (i.e.
anything not explicitly outlined in
the Constitution). Most worryingly,
however, this draft appears to
institutionalize the Glucksburg Test,
which states that rights must be
“deeply rooted in American tradition
and history”. Needless to say, this is a
judicial time bomb, which will have
ramifications spanning everything
from LGBTQ protections to racial
equality and countless other civil
rights.

This is the result of decades
upon decades of targeted efforts by
the anti-abortion crowd, ranging

By: RED HARRIS

from concerted electoralist pushes to
transform the Republican party into
the political juggernaut we see today,
to acts of stochastic terrorism to
directly harm the capacity of groups
to provide reproductive care. The
ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, as this
case will be remembered in history
books, is the culmination of these
efforts. However, it is important to
remember that the modern moral
conservative movement did not
form out of a reaction to Roe, it
formed earlier, out of reaction to
desegregation and Brown v. Board.
And even though reimposing
segregation was soon driven off the
political table after the civil rights
movement, it would be a grave error
to assume that the current blend of
“Great Replacement” conspiracism
and _ hyperconservative reaction
won't eventually come back to it.

The rejection of liberal
values (i.e. democracy, equality,
human rights) by the political right
wing in America means that we are
progressing to an era beyond naive
political liberalism, and its ghoulish
successor, neoliberalism. This era, of
Post-Liberalism, heralds something
much darker: the total dominance
of cultural, social, economic, and
governmental institutions by a
minoritarian political faction of far
right Christian Nationalists that
stage farcical hyper-gerrymandered
elections to reinforce their vulgar
excuse for legitimacy. All this while

THE DEATH OF ROE: THE BIRTH OF Post LIBERALISM

public services are gutted and a
political elite keep the economically
downtrodden divided with nearly
ritualistic persecutions of minorities
and outgroups. Such a system is not
new; it has been similarly imposed
in Russia, in Hungary, in India, and
many other nations across the world
and throughout history, and they
inevitably have the same outcome of
destitution, corruption, and brutal,
crushing repression.

What does this mean for
America? Well, nothing good. Even
with Roe poised to be overturned,
and with broad popular support for
maintaining Roe and even codifying
the national right to abortion, the
Democratic party, in typical fashion,
appears utterly impotent and
incapable of coming to the rescue.
The midterms are still lurching
in favor of Republicans, and the
2024 election will almost certainly
herald a constitutional crisis that the
democratic safeguards in this country
are simply not prepared for. Hate
crimes, white supremacist domestic
terrorism, targeted disinformation,
and violent rhetoric are all on the
rise. Republican-dominated states
have been passing wave after wave of
anti-trans laws, anti-’°CRT” laws, and
“Dont Say Gay” laws. Among these
laws are also “fetal personhood”
initiatives, which would charge
anyone receiving or aiding in
abortion care with homicide, even
in cases where pregnancy would

be fatal, something far more severe than pre-Roe laws. Many of these states are
cracking down on the mailing of abortifacients like mifepristone, which is also ,”
used to treat miscarriages, thus leading to further strains on reproductive care.

Of these laws, the worst perhaps are the ones that reach across state lines,
charging people who leave for blue state sanctuaries to gain abortion access. Not
since the days of abhorrences like the Fugitive Slave Act have states attempted #
to do this. The instant a woman from Idaho or Texas or Missouri is charged j§y
for entering Oregon or New Mexico or Illinois for the purposes of getting an ®}
abortion, it will set off a domino of legal challenges that leads right to the Supreme ©
Court's doorstep once more. The Post-Liberal Right cares nothing for ideological
consistency, only the fulfillment of their agendas; just as they have struck down
Roe with claims of turning the issue back to the states, they will do so again when
a second Dredd Scott is issued that severely curtails (if not utterly ends) the right
to reproductive autonomy in blue states. This, assuming a national abortion ban
isn't legislated following whatever nightmarish political designs come to pass in
the 2024 election. Post-Liberalism will come to all of us, whether through courts,
congress, or darker means still.

Once the right to abortion is revoked, along with the rights to same-sex
marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges), to contraceptives ( Griswold v. Connecticut), to
same-sex intimacy (Lawrence v. Texas), and countless others, it will not be coming
back in our lifetimes, not in these United States. Democrat leaders implore us,
the voters, to save Roe by voting for pro-choice candidates, while they themselves
not only sponsor anti-choice establishment Dems over committed progressives in
primary races, but also still play to the fantasy of bipartisanship. The Republican
party is not interested in accepting free and fair elections, nor do they chase the
delusion of compromise. The red states of this country are not true democracies
but a legion of petty imperia, where “inconvenient” votes are suppressed and the
opposition exists in tatters. By all means, vote down the ballot, it’s an important
civic function and it should be exercised while it still matters in places where it still
does. But voting alone will not save us.

There are not many roads open to maintaining the right to abortion, mama
or indeed, any of the other rights that the political left has fought for over the
past century. At least, not through legal channels. We may be entering a new and
perilous era, but that does not mean we will be in a particularly new or particularly
perilous position. With advances in technology, underground networks can easily
be set up to provide abortion care as they were in the days of the Jane Collective
or today in arch-conservative Poland (mifepristone is relatively easy to make and
can be delivered via drone). Groups like Jane's Revenge offer a chance at direct
action through leaderless resistance against the infrastructure of the anti-abortion ,,
movement. Wider collectives, like the LGBTQ, Black, and Jewish communities,
are all too familiar with the violence of christofascist white supremacy, but are
more resilient and connected than ever.

If Post-Liberalism is to come to pass, if these truly are the twilight years of |
the pretense of liberty and facade of equality in these United States, then we the
people will need to be ready. The death of Roe is not the finale but the opening i
shot of a long barrage that will roll back the rights we hold dear, and it’s anyone’s
guess as to where it will end. And the post-liberals will need to be fought tooth ¥
and nail every step of the way, until the fruits of their victory turn to ashes in their Hise.
mouths.

If they mean to inherit America, then give them the America they deserve.

Photos, right: May 3, 2022 Womens March. Photos by Kate O Mara for
Solidarity News

The Insurgent and Solidarity News Introduce...
THE UO “DEMONSTRATION TEAM”

----Original Message----

From: Rick Haught <rickh@uoregon.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 9, 2021 12:22 PM
To: Tina Haynes <thaynes@uoregon.edu>
Cc: Krista Dillon <kristam @uoregon.edu>; Paul Timmins
<ptimmins@uoregon.edu>

Subject: UO Statement on Freedom of Speech

The Surveillance of Students at UO

“Hi Tina”

Welcome to the messy world of freedom of expression.

he UO Demonstration Team is a quiet circle

of administration employees and University of
Oregon Police who work together to surveil social media and
spy on community protests. Student organizers have known
for some time that the administration was monitoring their
activities, but until an email conversation disclosed through
a Public Records Request mentioned the Demo Team’s
existence, students weren't aware of how they were being
watched. State public records requests have revealed that
the administration has been monitoring student protest and
political activity through social media posts and in person
surveillance since at least 2017. An official charter for the
Demo Team is available which includes a laundry list of
high-level administration employees and UOPD officers. A
core and secondary team of UO employees are included in
the charter and compose a sprawling network of informants
that cover roughly every non-academic department of the
university.

Official mention of the UO Demonstration Team
is limited to one public posting from the University Risk
Management and Insurance Association’s (URMIA) Western
Regional Risk Management Event Conference, where Krista
Dillon Co-Chair of the Demo Team spoke in 2019. Record
requests for information on the UO Demonstration Team
have revealed over 500 pages of documents concerning
their activities since 2017. The team’s activities may precede
2017, but their most recent charter was updated July Ist
2021. What these documents reveal is that any publicly
posted information concerning political or protest events
is distributed to the widest possible network of campus
authority.

The team appears to focus on distributing intelligence
before demonstrations, protests, controversial events, or
any suspected disturbance. Surveillance is compiled by the
Demo Team and in the event of a “civil unrest incident” the
team defers to what is called the Incident Management Team
(IMT). The clear continuity between information gathering
and evidence gathering is overtly expressed in the team’s
charter and reinforced by many of the procedural documents
disclosed in the recent records requests. This wide net
of tattle-tales is the eyes and ears for both the previously
mentioned Incident Management Team and a larger umbrella
department of Safety & Risk Services. Comparing both the

Demo Team charter and the IMT organizational chart reveal
that the two share significant crossover. Though the IMT has
a wide portfolio that includes pandemic response and various
disasters, it is in close proximity to both UO’s General Council
and UOPD. It appears that when the IMT is activated, the
correspondences of the UO Demonstration Team stop being
publicly accessible records and are designated as “privileged
logs.’ All such privileged logs listed in recent records requests
include correspondences with Kevin Reed (the UO General
Council) or UOPD staff.

Though recent public records requests about the
UO Demonstration team are extensive in scope, there are
conspicuous holes that appear in the records. The most
glaring lapse is a void of all Demo Team activity during
2020. Even citations of “privileged logs” are absent from
this period and one must remember that this was an era
of almost constant demonstrations and protest in Eugene
during the BLM/George Floyd uprising. Several protests
took place on campus in that time frame, but any activity
of the Demo Team is simply absent from the public records
request. Whether this means the Demo Team was simply not
functioning during this period or the Incident Management
Team was in a constant state of activation is unclear. Other
inconsistencies in the records requests reveal that the more
successful or disruptive a demonstration might be, the more
likely it will be passed along to the UO General Council or
the UOPD. Such circumstances often put the details of the
Demo Team’s surveillance activities beyond the retrieval of
public records requests.

The picture that can still be painted of the UO
Demonstration Team is one of an extended network of
administration employees constantly raising the alarm about
student political activity and protest. The Demo Team even
has informants in event services, which are obliged to report
suspicious or controversial events booked by student groups
or community organizations. Additionally, sprawling pages
of procedural documents detail pre-planned responses for
a few categorized campus direct actions. Though the exact
details of the procedures have been redacted behind big
black boxes in the records requests, three categories listed are
protests/demonstrations, marches, and tree sits.

One of the most recent demonstrations detailed
in the Demo Team records was the Nov 17th 2021 protest

continues on next page

against timber executive Tyler Freres of Freres Lumber,
who gave a presentation on post fire logging at the UO Law
School. In this case the Demo Team seems to have obtained
information through a string of student informants that
passed along a screenshot from a Discord chat. The Demo
Team prepared for any disruption with a planned script but
when the protest erupted over 50 demonstrators shouted
down the timber executive en masse. Tyler Freres appeared to
have been completely dejected by the demonstration and the
event went from having a packed amphitheater to a couple of
demoralized business law students lingering behind.

Demo Team chat logs reveal that the team did not feel
there were grounds for code of conduct violations and Kevin
Reed the UO General Council called the protesters “wimps”
for only disrupting the presentation for five minutes. The
Demo Team was more concerned about press documenting
the protest and were keen to know if the media was on hand
to witness the disruption. It was later noted in a chat log that
Freres Lumber President Rob Freres, cousin of Tyler Freres
was, “clearly still pretty annoyed/frustrated” when he was
encountered the next day at an OSU event. Freres Lumber
has made a significant financial contribution to the UO Law
School, most likely in the hopes of influencing one of the
leading environmental law programs in the country.

None of the protest participants were cited for
code of conduct violations and this is likely the reason for
the transparency regarding this incident. What media did
emerge about the protest, Demo Team members commented
as having, “not much traction.” Event attendees were asked to
sign-in before entering the amphitheater room and this list
was circulated to the whole Demo Team.

On a comical note, is the Demo Team’ ongoing
feud with the Cascadia Forest Defenders, a local radical
environmentalist organization. It appears that the
organization's social media feeds are monitored by the Demo
Team. In 2019 a campus tree-sit protesting local timber sales
appears to have gone all the way up
the chain to Safety & Risk Services.
A formal letter was delivered to the
Forest Defenders citing safety and
policy violation for occupying the

From: Kris Winter

Demo Team correspondences revealed that initially the
administration wanted to use city codes regulating camping
on public property to justify eviction of the tree sitters. This
was decided against because, “we do not want the City to
regulate how we use our property for UO events.”

In 2017 Charlie Landeros was one of the most active
organizers and critics of the University of Oregon while
they were a UO student. Because of this, they drew the
ire of multiple university administrators. Particularly, the
demonstration team singled them out in their investigation
of the State of the University protest. Remember: Landeros’
life was tragically cut short on January 11, 2019 when they
were murdered by the Eugene Police Department as they
were picking up their daughter from Cascade Middle School.

Landeros was mentioned by the Demonstration
Team on October 5, 2017 due to their involvement in the
State of the University disruption. UO Students interrupted
the annual State of the University address, where President
Schill was slated to speak on October 6. Students organized
a counter-action named the State of Reality to demonstrate
how the university failed to protect them from white
supremacists whilst pricing out the most marginalized.

UO administrators included a screenshot of
Landeros’ Facebook post, sharing the event in their action
plan write up and with the UOPD. Landeros also shared
an intimate personal story of being a person of color living
under white supremacist institutions. They went into how
President Schill hasn’t taken action against blatant fascism,
causing students like them to feel unsafe at the university.

Admin felt threatened by this letter, which showed
no violent intent. Then UOPD Chief Matt Carmichael
admitted in response that while the post was noteworthy,
it did not “suggest violence.” Messages from administrators
showed that they had issues with Landeros personally and
not just the letter they wrote.

Sent: Thursday, October 5, 2017 8:31 AM

To: Krista Dillon <kristam@uoregon.edu>; Shelly Kerr <skerr@uoregon.edu>; Bryan Dearinger <bdearing@uoregon.edu>
Ce: 'Chief Carmichael’ <Matt.Carmichael@uopd.org>

tree from April 15-17th 2019. The Subject: Facebook postings
Forest Defenders were known to
have taken exception to any safety
concerns, and even resolved to
draft a response letter countering
the accusations. A heated exchange
also took place with the campus
arborist on this matter, but all
safety inquiries were thoroughly
answered by climbing experts

that participated in the action. _ afterthisterm.

Could you all take a look at Charlie Landeros’ facebook page? Kyle Henley called concerned based on his recent post (related to
the protest Friday). I understand Kyle also called Chief Carmichael. President Schill is concerned as well. If you don’t have access
to facebook I am putting text of the recent post below.

His postings have become more intense and he does seem more fixated on Mike. Additionally, I understand his G.I. Bill runs out

continues on next page

”[Their] postings have become more intense and [they do] seem more fixated on Mike. Additionally, I understand
[their] G.I. Bill runs out after this term,’ Kris Winter, co-lead of the demonstration team said in an email.

It is unclear whether Landeros said publicly that their GI Bill was set to run out or if admin accessed that info
using other means.

An overall trend in the Demo Team's behavior is the monitoring of GIFF union events, an ongoing
concern of the Demonstration Team. An issue that came up again and again was the use of amplified sound,
especially from GTFE. Krista Dillon said that it is university protocol to get a photo of individuals that use
amplified sound after they are asked to stop. These emails also show their interest in accessing the media to
ensure they report on the administration's view on these labor struggles. The Demo Team appears to do a check-
in whenever GTFF or SEIU are entering contract negotiations, but as of now recent records requests do not reveal
their reaction to strike conditions.

Dillon, in addition to surveilling protests with the Demo Team, helps lead the university’s COVID-19
response team. This puts her in a special position where she meets with unions to set COVID policy, and later
surveil these unions’ protests about the administration’s inaction surrounding COVID safety protocols.

Chat logs provided in our public records show administrators providing minute by minute updates of
health and safety speakouts by staff and students. Dillon sends texts saying there are 10 people here, then 20, then
50.

One text from Dillon reads, “Still going. Calls for student employees to unionize. Chanting.”

C reste Dili

It appears that the UO Demonstration Team has largely integrated the university administration into
a network of police collaboration and surveillance. This default network of informants plays a noted role in
outsourcing evidence collection and preparing defense against legal liability. Most importantly the Demo Team
seems to fall in line with the profile of UO’s massive public relations apparatus that Joshua Hunt chronicled in his
book Mike University. Given the teams bent towards media management, this would align with repeated attempts
to safeguard donor associated brand names and commercial legacies that now overwhelm UO’s campus and
cultural landscape.

The point at which it became the university's job to monitor political activity on campus is unclear. With
a reputation that puts billions of dollars of donor contributions on the line, it is safe to say that the agency of
students to set their own agenda within the university has encountered organized resistance from administration
and police.

The Insurgent and Solidarity News hope to bring more public records to light concerning university surveillance
of students. Every new records request raises more questions, and we thank all those comrades who contributed
financially to help pay for the exorbitant fees these public records requests incur. Moving forward we hope to
challenge many of the redactions we have encountered, and we hope we can delve further into the Incident
Management Team (IMT), which appears to be the main punitive apparatus of the VO Demonstration team.

OTE FROM THE EDITOR: We have known that admin keeps tabs on us, here we have the proof. Take this

las a lesson learned: think carefully before you post protest information to any server, make sure you can trust
everyone who has internal access to your organization, and STOP scheduling your protests using Events Services!

ISRAEL STRIKES AGAIN:

Silencing Palestinian Press By: banzai
Art: @thosebeyonddrunk

n May 11th, Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu

Akleh, was fatally assassinated by the Israeli Occupation
Forces (IOF). Unfortunately, Shireen wasn’t the first journalist
murdered by the Israeli forces, and it doesn’t look like she'll be the
last anytime soon. At the time of her assassination, Shireen Abu
Akleh was wearing a blue vest, with the word “PRESS” clearly
labeled across her chest. She was covering a military raid in the
occupied city of Jenin.

In the past, when Israel has murdered other well-known
individuals, they follow a pattern of rejecting charges and deflecting
the blame onto Palestinians. In 2003 British filmmaker, James
Miller, was shot by the IOF while filming a documentary in Gaza.
Just as Shireen was wearing a vest with the word “PRESS”, Miller was
holding a white flag while posing zero threat whatsoever. A similar
situation unfolded when Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a prominent
doctor, was asking the IOF to stop firing at them on live TV; his
three daughters were killed by an air strike shortly after. In each
of these cases, Israel has denied the fact that they killed innocent
individuals. In the cases of the journalists, Shireen Abu Akleh and
James Miller, the IOF went as far as blaming Palestinian freedom
fighters for their deaths. These claims have repeatedly been proven
false. The Israeli government has a well-documented history of
blaming Palestinians for the deaths of innocent people caused by
the IOF. Not only were these journalists, filmmakers, and children innocent, they were also physically showing that they weren't
putting anyone at risk.

The responses we've seen globally are rather interesting; some nations seem to not care. Other nations have adamantly
asked Israeli officials or the International Criminal Courts to push forward on an investigation. On May 23rd, Palestine officially
put in requests to the ICC to formally investigate Shireen’s death. The news publication that she worked for, Al-Jazeera which is
based out of Qatar, is also requesting Israel to investigate her tragic death.

To some surprise, the United States has also spoken up and expressed that they are expecting an investigation. Many find
hypocrisy in this call though—for decades the United States has been funding Israel’s occupation and settlement of Palestinian
indigenous lands. The United States is calling for an investigation but as they still provide over $3.8 billion in military funding to
Israel, annually. Amongst all of this, President Joe Biden is expected to visit Jerusalem around the end of June.

Time Magazine came out with an article titled “Israel’s Response to Shireen Abu Akleh’s Death is a Problem.” No shit it’s
a problem. Not only was Israel in violation of international law by killing a journalist, but they were also quick to falsely accuse
Palestinians of killing her. Now they’re refusing to investigate her murder. According to the Israeli news publication, Haaretz,
Israel’s military investigation committee has decided that if they investigate her death, it will only cause an opposition within
Israeli society.

As I am writing this, it has been almost three weeks since Shireen Abu Akleh’s passing and still nothing has been done
or accomplished for her to achieve any sort of justice. Her family have made statements, Al-Jazeera has made statements, and
thousands have flooded into the streets of major cities across the globe, calling for some sort of justice. All of this, yet still no
sense of justice is on the horizon. Since the turn of the century, 7 journalists and filmmakers have died at the hands of the
Israeli Occupation Forces. To Israel, and much of the international community, the IOF is known as the Israeli Defense Forces
(IDF). In all 7 of these murders, none of these individuals posed any sort of threat to the wellbeing of Israeli citizens. In all 7 of
these murders, the Israeli “Defense” Forces played an offensive move when they decided to carry out the assassinations of these
journalists. In no way were these attacks defensive.

Shireen’s murder is just the most recent example of Israel's efforts to restrict Palestine from getting a fair and accurate
representation in the media. Shireen would show up on millions of televisions regularly, reporting on the regular atrocities
committed in Palestine. When oppressed and occupied people don't have their sides of the conflict represented, the oppressors
are one step ahead and only furthering their oppressive efforts. Israel's violent ocupation of Palestinian land has taken the lives of
too many innocent people. How many more until we realize enough is enough? May 15th, Al-Nakba day, marked 74 years of this
colonialistic settlement. With Israel’s occupation not showing any signs of ending any time soon, it’s more important than ever to
listen to Palestinians and their stories.

MALE ENTITLEMENT PERMEATES EVERY FACET OF A WOMAN’S LIFE
Essay & Art By: Rosie

hile the recent information about the

potential repeal of Roe v. Wade and the state
of abortion rights in this country is certainly disturbing, to
those who have been paying attention it is not the least bit
shocking. Back in August 2021, Supreme Court Justice Amy
Coney Barett declined to block a vaccine mandate at Indiana
University after a group of students argued that the mandate
infringed on their rights to bodily autonomy. While the
majority of liberals, shrouded in COVID news, saw this as
a sign that Justice Barett may vote in favor of more stringent
COVID policies, others saw a much darker threat looming.
Judge Barett did not just vote to block a vaccine mandate,
she voted against bodily autonomy. This was simply the first
indication of her stance on individual freedom, medical
rights, and subsequently, abortion. While Justice Barrett
may be a woman, her stance on these issues reflects the
patriarchal white entitlement that permeates every facet of
women’s health care and our rights to bodily autonomy.

While this phenomenon certainly exists from the
moment of our birth, for most women we become aware
of this entitlement as we enter puberty. From the cat-calls
we get across the street from men three times our age, to
inappropriate touches and stares from our male classmates,
we are conditioned to learn that our bodies are not truly our
own from a very young age. By the time we are taught about
sex education and our changing bodies, we have already
been sexualized for years.

When it comes to sex education, rarely
are lucky enough to attend a school that
teaches sex is for more than just
producing offspring. We are taught
that if we are not ready to raise a
mans children, then we are not
ready for sex. We are taught that
sex is painful, and almost never
are we taught about the female
orgasm, because our orgasms
don't relate to procreation.
Also, teen pregnancy is still too
common in the United States,
especially in rural areas where
sex education is limited or
non-existent besides the
religious preaching of
abstinence until marriage.
Access to birth control is
already limited in these
areas, but now that the
Supreme Court has leaked
their decision regarding
Roe v Wade, a number of
states have begun considering
bills that would criminalize birth

we

control. According to the Pew: “This month, Idaho state
Rep. Brent Crane, Republican chair of the powerful House
State Affairs Committee, said he would hold hearings on
legislation banning emergency contraceptives and possibly
IUDs as well.” We currently live in a world where men who
have physically violated women’s bodies have the greatest
power to create legislature on women’s bodies (with both
Judge Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh having sexual
harassment/ assault allegations against them), and while
putting more women in positions of power may seem like the
easy answer, Justice Coney-Barett is living proof that women,
especially white women can still propogate male entitlement
and violence.

While one of the most preached arguments for
abortion revolves around rape, incest, and other non-
consensual situations in which someone might find
themselves pregnant, there is still violent male entitlement in
forcing a woman to carry a child for any reason, even if it was
from a consensual sexual encounter. We are not incubators
- we are humans, and this blatant objectification of a woman
in favor of a life that does not even exist yet is just another
example of how we do not own our own bodies. They have
always been property of the patriarchy, and this situation
only amplifies our awareness of that fact.

In a previous issue of the Insurgent, I went in
depth into the technocratic birthing systems and medical
misogyny in the United States. However, those topics

have more relevance than ever in a society that
forces women to give birth. Many people
fail to consider that birth, especially
in the United States, places women in
incredible danger, including death. The
United States has the highest maternal
Pirtality rate of higher GDP countries,
( oy to the routinization of c-sections, and
/theeneral surgicalization of the birthing
“ ess in the country. Expecting a
pman to carry an unwanted child
to term can be a death sentence,
especially in a country that has
no intention of supporting
that woman or her child after
birth.
This has never been about
saving the lives of children.
If it was, the U.S. would
have social systems in
place to support mothers
and children after birth.
This is, and always has
been about, male fucking
entitlement.

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C O P S AU DIT C O P S ? Cops off Campus holds their last meeting of Spring Term

By: Eric Howanietz
U has begun a process of auditing its
campus police force, but for some a
hired consulting agency named Twenty First Century
Policing (21CP) leaves the
fox guarding the hen house.
According to Cops off Campus
UO, their own community
audit on campus has concluded,
“Abolition is our conclusion?”
The auditing agency 21CP is
primarily composed of former
police chiefs and administrators.
For Cops off Campus the audit
that started in January this
year hardly comes close to the
type of community review
board campus organizers have
envisioned. Organizers are
also worried that the report
will appropriate abolitionist
language, and most of all UOPD will have the
opportunity to edit the report prior to public release.
The $110K audit will in no way obligate the UOPD to
follow any of its recommendations. Organizers believe
a smokescreen of reform now allows campus authorities
to move forward on a suite of half measures. Some of
these including Community Service Officers, and
various acknowledgments glorifying CAHOOTS and

aping its best efforts.

Cops off Campus ends the year with its May
25th public meeting by briefing who they are, where
they are, and where they want to be. Over the course of
the last year the group has transitioned from its previous
iteration as Disarm UO into a stronger abolitionist
stance of the Cops Off Campus Coalition. Now
branded as Cops Off Campus UO (COC), the group
takes a strong anti-capitalist position that opposes the
prison industrial complex, colonialism, imperialism,
patriarchy, and racism.

Their presentation opened with an indigenous
land acknowledgement that fed directly into their
core mission and seamlessly recognized the historical
relationship between stolen indigenous land and
policing. Reflecting on the history of COC they showed
how the group has periodically released information
about UOPD’s negative impact in the community.

@CopsOffCampusUO

They have demonstrated how the foundation of UO’s
police department is built on a program of privatization
subsuming the public university system. And they have
emphasized how UOPD
was only established in
2011, which obliges meeting
participants to easily imagine
a campus community
without policing.

Most importantly the
abolitionist stance of the
organization allows it to
refrain from reformist
efforts and compromises
with campus administration.
Over the course of the last
academic year the group
has largely been successful
in efforts to underline a
problematic relationship
between Campus Duck Rides and the UOPD. Campus
police had largely asserted control over the ride service
(Previously called Safe Rides) and Associated Students
of University of Oregon (ASUO) were paying 90% of
the Duck Rides budget. This created a situation where
student activity fees collected by ASUO were being
funneled into the UOPD. It now appears that UOPD
will no longer control the ride service in the next budget
cycle and Transportation Services will take over control
of Duck Rides.

Cops Off Campus ended its final Spring term
meeting with a workshop asking participants to
brainstorm how they would rather spend the UOPD’s
eight million dollar budget.

Wanna Get lnvelved?
Join the Insurgent Team!

Website:
studentinsurgent.org
lnsta:
uo. studentinsurgent

Fraail:

insurgentuo@graail.cor

ADMIN STRIKES AGAIN: The latest victim?

The Student Food Pantry

By: Maggie
pe of this year, almost 9,000 students a year
walk through the doors of the Student Food
Pantry. A welcoming volunteer - also a student - greets
students as they pick up their free produce: bread, canned
goods, frozen meats, milk, eggs, cheese, hummus, coffee,
pastas, tofu, peanut butter, cake mix, cooking oil, almost
anything one can think of. The pantry currently serves
students from UO, LCC, Bushnell, and all students,
regardless of income, can access the Pantry.

The Pantry started out in a small garage in 2011 by
passionate students and community members concerned
about student food insecurity. Over the years it has since
grown through the work of students and community
members and, as of June 2020, expanded into a multi-
room space off of the UO campus on 710 E 17th Ave.
In the past year, the pantry now has improved its stock
with reusable water bottles, toilet paper, toothbrushes,
soaps, dog and cat food, menstrual products, safer sex
supplies, handmade knit hats, along with more halal,
kosher, vegan, and gluten free groceries. Students are
working on getting more staples and other essentials that
the university currently doesn’t provide, such as fentanyl
testing strips, birth control, and pregnancy tests.

Historically, the Pantry has been funded, operated,
and expanded by the work of community members and
students at UO. This is now changing: as of July Ist
2022, along with other department changes happening
this summer, the administrative department of the
Dean of Students will begin managing the oversight and
operations of the Pantry. This means that the Pantry will
no longer be run by students and community members.

It is not entirely clear what played a role in
the transition of the Pantry’s management to Dean of
Students’ Admin. One theory is the change in EMU
oversight: starting in July, Admin will instead oversee
the funding of many of the offices in the EMU such as
the Student Sustainability Center, Craft Center, KVWA,
Outdoor Program. Since the Pantry was a part of the
Student Sustainability Center, Admin easily could move
the Pantry between the two departments they now
control, and then implement the changes they want to
the Pantry.

One other possible contributing factor to this
transition of the pantry is HB 2835, which was passed

a
My college is not an

authoritarian state

by the Oregon legislature this spring which added new
funds to the new Department overseeing the Pantry.
Additionally, new ASUO funds are now also going to this
same department.

This upcoming change in the pantry is important
because it is a loss of student autonomy over one of
the very few basic resources on campus. This will now
make it easier for Admin to take control of a student-
created program. This has happened before when they
transitioned the feminist anti-violence nighttime ride
service, known as Safe Ride, to Duck Rides, a camera-
covered surveillance campus police shuttle. Student
oversight over these departments made it so students
could ensure that all these programs were centered on
the students and the community.

Transitioning the Pantry to a program under
Admin control presents a scary scenario where more
regulations, requirements, and bureaucracy are
embedded within the Pantry. This transition may disrupt
community-developed and community-centered mutual
aid networks currently happening at the Pantry and
further community involvement may be pushed out
or stifled. Helping meet the needs of students - or any
vulnerable population - necessitates a dynamic, flexible,
and understanding environment. Institutionalizing
community programs often creates the opposite effect,
as in the case of Duck Rides. The transition of the Pantry
may seem small, but it’s a warning sign for students to
keep a watchful eye for other advances from Admin on
student and community-run programs.

meme cred: UO Affirmations on Instagram

Solidarity News Report: Admin's Fuckery Continues

Reporting by: Matthew-OG, solidaritynews.org

UO GIVES PRES. SCHILL NEW

5-YEAR CONTRACT
Published May 23, 2022 on solidaritynews.org

he University of Oregon Board of Trustees

approved a new five-year contract for President
Michael Schill that includes a retroactive raise to
2022. The UO will now pay a base salary of $780K
for the year of 2022, a 5.7% bump from the last
year of the previous contract. In 2023, his base
pay increases 2.3%, then increases of 3% for each
of the remaining three years. The contract was
unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees on
Friday, May 20.

In addition to the base pay, the UO has boosted his
retirement contribution to $200K/yr for the first
four years and $300K for the last year. The UO set
its contribution to Schill’s retirement plan at $50K/
yr in his last contract that they approved for him in
2018.

On top of all of that the university will give Schill
a $250K bonus if he sticks around until the end of
2023 and another quarter million if he sticks around
until the end of 2025.

If Schill’s contract is terminated, except for with
cause, he can choose to stay on at the UO as a faculty
member with a $450K/yr contract

As of beginning of this year, Schill has accrued a
full year of sabbatical. The UO has decided with this
new contract that he will no longer gain sabbatical
time and instead if he stays president for the rest of
the contract that he will receive $1M for research.

Additional benefits that the university carried over
from the old contract is a $1,200/month vehicle
stipend (funded by the University Foundation)
and stay at UO’s McMorran House, located at 2315
McMorran St. in Eugene. The contract stipulates
that he is required to live at that residence while
he is president. The university will pay for utilities,
telephone service, cable, and internet access at that
residence.

See full contract online: solidaritynews.org

OFFICER OF ADMINISTRATION
NOMINATED TO UO BoT SEAT THAT
HAS BEEN FILLED BY UNION CLASSIFIED
EMPLOYEES

Published May 26, 2022 on solidaritynews.org

ov. Brown nominated two new people to the UO Board of

Trustees to fill spots of two members that are stepping down
at the end of June. Jenny Ulum, who serves as the senior director of
communications for King Estate Winery, has been chosen to take
over for Chuck Lillis’ at-large seat. Lillian Moses, who serves as the
director of housing capital construction at the University of Oregon,
has been tapped to fill the nonfaculty staff representative currently
served by Jimmy Murray.

Since the board took effect in 2014, the nonfaculty staffrepresentative
position on the board has been filled by classified employee that
is a member of the SEIU 503. Jimmy Murray and his predecessor
Kurt Willcox both were active in SEIU. Lillian Moses however is a
nonunion Officer of Administration at the University of Oregon.

In a post on the SEIU 503 sublocal 085 website, Johnny Earl says
that all classified employees were caught by surprise that an Officer
of Administration was chosen for the non-faculty staff member
seat. Earl goes on to say that classified employees and Officers of
Administration have different interests and because of this it does
not make sense to have one seat represent both groups. Among the
differences he notes is that many classified employees are supervised
by Officers of Administration and that classified employees are
governed by a collective bargaining agreement.

“Classified employees will never feel comfortable until a new seat
is made on the board for classified employees representative that
represents their interest only. We hope that one day classified
employees would be able to vote on who we would like to represent
us on the Board of Trustees. Up until that time the same struggles
between the two employee groups will persist,” Earl says in closing.

Chuck Lillis has served on the board since its founding. At its
quarterly meeting on May 20 the trustees named Vice Chair Ginevra
Ralph, co-founder of the John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts, to
serve as board chair. They bumped up Steve Holwerda, managing
director of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management, to serve as
Vice Chair.

The Oregon Senate Rules committee will vote on the nominees in
June. If they approve both, they will join the board on July 1.

Art by Serendipity

SUICIDE AT UO: AN ILLUSION OF CARE

By: Curious Hippo

| (Ba County is experiencing an epidemic and not the
one you are thinking of; suicide takes someones life
every three days here. The population of the University of Oregon
is not exempt from this rising problem. Universities nowadays
are saying they are extremely forward thinking and progressive,
especially when it comes to the mental wellbeing of their
students. But, is that really true? How could higher institutions
view students with any care beyond a superficial level when all
we are is a constant source of endless income? Are university
staff showing insincere interest towards their students simply to
shield themselves from civil suits? Is all of the suicide prevention
and help offered by universities, the University of Oregon in
particular, a shallow attempt to cover legal bases instead of truly
caring about their students? In an age of litigation against the
University, how can UO truly care about their students and staff?

In terms of the university, there is a certain accountability
that all institutions are held to. Universities are putting the pressure
on young adults whether intentional or not. Introductory level
classes are intended to be extremely hard in order to “weed out”
the students who should not actually be in the class. How is that
acceptable? When students are failing classes the repercussions
are academic probation and having to meet with an advisor
before registering for next term’s classes. But no one ever stops
to ask why. Why did this person, who was successful enough
to get into University of Oregon, fail their first term of classes?
Based on a 2013 study conducted by the American Psychological
Association, depression is the second leading concern in 36.4% of
all college students. Maybe, if someone looked at these statistics
and really thought, they would start to possibly comprehend
what is wrong with higher education. College has evolved from a
place of higher level learning to a pressure cooker only some are
expected to survive. The university has lost sight of the humanity
of their students, treating them like a means to an end rather than
a human.

A classroom was an environment oflearning and fostering
creative thinking but now, classrooms at the University of Oregon
are another cog in the machine of American capitalism. In
America, it is enforced from a young age that there are two paths
you can take: one of “success” or the alternative of living life as
a so-called burnout. Your success as an adult is determined by
the next seventeen years of your life: elementary school, middle
school, high school, SATs or ACTs, apply to college, go to college,
graduate college, work for the rest of your life. When a place of
learning becomes more about being successful than learning, it is
no real surprise students get overwhelmed and sometimes want
to give up.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people
ages 15 to 24. While UO has tried to address the problem, all of
their attempts have been shallow and lacking preventative care.
Some schools are much better at addressing suicide concerns
than others, but do any of these schools actually care? We live

in a highly litigious society where any wrongdoing is scrutinized
under a microscope. Is the University actually trying to prevent
suicide or are they trying to prevent involvement of the judicial
system?

Freshman year, I was identified as a student at risk by the
Dean of Students after speaking with a mandated reporter about
my struggles. Instead of calling me, I was sent an email saying
University of Oregon “policy... requires any student experiencing
a situation that...threatens their own safety to complete a suicide
risk screening” and you are required to complete the screening
within a week of having the email sent (Howard 1). In this letter
it said, “if for some reason you do not [complete the screening
within one week from receiving this email], it may be necessary
to take additional steps to assess your safety,’ which according to
a psychologist at the counseling center could be anything from
a 72 hour psychiatric assessment to a hold on your university
account. If the University of Oregon actually cared about the well
being of their students, they should not have to threaten them
to take the steps they want them to take to keep them safe. It
became abundantly clear that this policy was in place to shield
the University from lawsuits. They are doing the bare minimum.
This letter said a suicide screening is required for any student
they believe may be at risk yet, they don’t require sexual assault
victims to complete this screening after reporting an incident to
the Title IX office. Approximately 70% of rape and sexual assault
survivors experience moderate to severe distress, which is a very
common precursor to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Based on
a study of rape survivors in America, studies have determined
that 33% of female rape survivors contemplate suicide and 13% of
women who have been raped actually attempt suicide. This does
not include women who do not report their rapes, women who
do not report their suicidal thoughts or attempts, and men (who
already have a higher suicide rate compared to women). So do
they really care or is the University just doing what they need to
in order to skate by?

Who gets to decide what is considered a threat to a person's
safety and what is not? Clearly people are slipping through the
cracks. When doing a search of suicide risk screenings online,
they are typically around 3 to 5 questions. If someone has already
decided they want to die, will a 5 question screening do anything?
Has anyone been helped by those questions and what comes after
answering them? I was told that because I was in therapy they
were not extremely concerned with coming up with next steps
for helping me. It all seemed superficial and if I did not want to
cooperate I could have lied or simply not done the screening. I
have not received any check ins as to how I am nearly two years
later. Even with that letter, I did not receive it immediately, almost
as if it was not urgent enough for them to send a letter and inform
me of their “care for my well being” Why send a letter at all if
there is not any actual help for me or my peers? It is yet another
illusion of care within the university to avoid civic liabilities.

continues on next page

Things are not done efficiently here
at UO because the institution is incapable of
seeing students beyond economic gain. It is not
a matter of keeping us safe because if it were, a
lot more people would have to complete these
risk screenings. Genuine care is when resources
are actually offered and plans are created for all
students, not just ones at risk. It seems as though
the University is selfish and only cares about
protecting themselves. That is understandable
too, but why not be honest about it?

The UO fails to grasp preventive care
and even then it is very case by case. Instead of
doing a one and done screening, the university
could easily more meaningfully check in on
their students after having some sort of suicidal
behavior or thoughts. At Brown University, if
you are having a mental health emergency, their
counseling center will see you within 15 minutes
without needing any prior appointment. When I
had to complete my risk screening I was sitting in
the waiting room of the counseling center for 45
minutes, and I was told it was not a busy day. It is
not just a matter of better policy. The University of
Oregon needs to make changes in its core to show
more compassion towards its students. Prioritize
students in life threatening situations, respond in
a timely manner, check in with students and keep
them informed. All of these things seem so basic,
but to a corporate machine, there is no need as
long as their reputation stays pure and their hands
appear clean. At the University of Oregon suicide
prevention is nothing more than an illusion of care
to maintain a reputation precluding negligence.

* ead

XHOSTAGEX]= |

HAR GT DGOS AND LOVER FRESE

A Benefit For whitebird Clinic's NEST Program

donation of 4
new or gently
used survival
gear.

Saturday
June 11th

= Doors at

All door 2. OpP.m.

proceeds go
+o
whitebird's
NEST
program

Music at
GOp.m.

HAIF OF THE WoGS BOOKING ANT FFINTING PFEGENT

Ef = | bo SLICE PIZZA
D297 aur oof

we

MEDASA

Art by Serendipity

medusa had the right
idea i believe.

a cave on a mountain
seems the best way to
go, watch their eyes as
you turn them to stone.
hold their lives in the
palm of your hand,

let no more men tell
you what you believe,
shatter them and their
preconceived notions.

if i was her, i would
never leave, escape

to where i would be
exempt from the rule,
the exception because
when a man came into
my space and said “i
thought you liked this” all i could say back was, “i was 15,” oh how i wished i had
snakes for hair and weapons for eyes,

instead my hair is curly, perfect for someone to grab in their hand and say you're
mine now, it hurts, that the way of the system that wasn’t made for us to succeed will
make us bleed to survive, was I made to be broken?

i carry pepper spray with me and plan to go into politics.

sparta would have welcomed us with open arms, a warrior society, where violence
was encouraged and reciprocation too, castrate him with a knife if he touches you,
forget chopping the hydra’s heads off, we already know two more grow back in its
place

become a vigilante and turn them all to stone, scream at them and stop playing nice,
once theyd diagnose you with hysteria, now they deem you a SJW and pray for your
death.

only through empowerment can anything be changed, with the collective rage of
thousands set the world on fire, and dance in the ashes of what remains

i wish i was medusa, as tragic as her life was, because she at least had an advantage

an advantage that ultimately killed her in the end, because her snakes for hair and
weapons for eyes

were something that men didn't understand and so claiming to be heroes, brought
on her demise

~PARIS

He said she said

You had two shots of vodka

I was completely sober.

You wanted to talk

I wanted to hang out with our friends.

You said you wanted me to sleep over

I was trying to come up with excuses to go.
You followed me into a different room

I didn’t want to be followed.

You said you always wanted to

I said I didn't know what I wanted.

You told me to lie to them

I wanted to scream for help but you were so
controlling.

You asked me to help you get popcorn

I was led into a room I didn’t know

You put your hands on me

I never really said “No:

You kept kissing me on my neck

I was waiting for it to end

You jammed your tongue down my throat
I was searching to free myself from the wall
You pulled me down on to the couch

I needed it to end but didn't know how.
You tugged at the end of my shirt

I moved your hand away.

You got up and left me there

I was frozen feeling bare.

There is an undercurrent of dread in her life. The
dread is omnipresent. It is an existential sort of dread,
the kind of dread that does not sneak up all at once but
haunts in the background. It is shadowy and monstrous.
It ebbs and flows. Once the dread got too close and it
gave her a nervous breakdown.

She knows what is coming. She feels like
Cassandra, of the Greek myth, blessed with prophecy
but doomed to never be believed. Not enough people
are listening to her, they have their own concerns in life
and that’s fine. Maybe never enough people could. She
goes out with her friends and tries to feel normal with
them, at least forva little while, but then the: dread comes
back and she spends the waning night anxiety-puking
in the bar bathroom. She swears the dread is still just an
undercurrent in her life. “I'm okay,’ she says. “I’m just
having a moment.”

“Are you okay?” the psychiatrist asks her. The
psychiatrist is a man, older than her. Most men are.
“This isn’t normal behavior.”

“What would be, under the circumstances?” she
retorts, gesturing her arms wide to the world. A clock
ticks patiently in the background.

He ignores her question. “Go for walks. And take

these.” He shoves paper into her hand. It says Abilify. An
hour later she throws it out.
Chronic adjustment disorder. They tell her that’s what
it is. Putting a name to the dread, as if that’s the sort
of thing that helps it go away. Could it go away, ever,
really? Not likely. The dread could only be defeated with
truth. And truth was on the side of dread.

She is cold like a corpse. Dead girl walking, dead girl
sleeping. Her dreams are filled with jackboots, plagues,
ballistic rockets, forest fires, rising seas. They are fitful
dreams, amphetamine dreams. When she swims up out
of them her head hurts and it’s already the afternoon.
Hot water still comes from her showerhead. The lights
still come on. They flow in currents. It is the 2020s.
Hard for her to believe this is as good as it gets, as good
as it ever will be again, but it is, it will be. So it has been
foretold by analysts of many disciplines. The road ahead
is a long way down. She shivers in the well-lit shower.
Dead girl weeping.

There were women she talked to and men she

HARBINGER RAPID

By: Red Harris

ignored—they were often in silence together. She
dreaded the silence. It was dreadfully loud. But what was
there to talk about, anyway? Sometimes theyd wind her
up and watch her ramble on tangents. They found her
so unhinged that she looped back around to insightful.
Other times theyd just let her go. She couldn't let go of
the dread.

“I want to be okay again,” she tells her friend.

“Were you ever to begin with?” her friend asks in

turn. They pass a bong back and forth between them.

“Maybe.” Smoke wafts in thin trails through the dim,
musty apartment. She takes a hit and coughs weakly. It’s
current day, currentyear: “But Ithink ’m»going under
now.’

Now is the time of ending. She has seen it
coming in a thousand articles, in a thousand op-eds.
The fire is on the mountain, the serpent’s egg is hatching
yet. She writes to release the stress, mad ramblings she’s
afraid to show anyone. It’s bothersome, she knows, but
there isn't a simple solution or remedy. Three of the
four horsemen cross their scythes upon the world and
everyone's supposed to. act like this is fine? Grotesque.

In her calmer hours, when the noise doesn't
occlude her mind so fully, she thinks about the stars.
Staring up in the early hours of the pre-sun morning,
watching the stars do their slow waltz across the celestial
plane. She has dreams of being between them, in the
inky void of interstellar space, no up or down, a night
sky in all directions around her. In the evenings she is
all too conscious; the sun is not asleep, it's moving under
her feet. Amidst the dreams of apocalyptic strife, there
is a deep repose, and in that state of peace she is flung
out into the deepest of space. The dread can’t reach her
out here. Speeding against nothing, Voyager wishes it
was her. A Harbinger, rapid.

But when she wakes up, it’s the middle of the day,
hot and dry and she’s sweating through the blankets.
Global temperatures are 1.1°C above the preindustrial
average. Current projections say there will be another
1.7°C to go. She turns on the fan and waits to cool down
againso she can go back to sleep.

But deep down, she knows the trees are still burning.

Illustration: Rosie

STARBUCKS ON STRIKE

REPORTING By: Matthew-OG, Solidarity News www.solidaritynews.or

orkers at the 29th & Willamette and Franklin & Villard :
Starbucks stores went on strike in May over the firing of :
union organizers in the PNW, as well as the exclusion of union stores from :

new benefits. The Willamette shop went on strike for two days, May 17-

18, and the Franklin shop went on strike May 17. Workers at both shops

successfully kept both shops closed the entirety of their strikes.

Picket lines were small but held steady support from workers and
community supporters throughout the day. Dozens of drivers passing by :

also showed their support through honking and many of the would-be

customers were not apoplectic for being turned away, but instead voiced

solidarity with the union.

The strikes in Eugene were held in conjunction with strikes in Olympia,
Portland, and Seattle.

Baristas say that Starbucks will make up different excuses to fire the most
active union organizers at their stores. They are also disciplining workers
for wearing union pins. One worker told Solidarity News that they have
been targeting workers that speak out to the media and that they are on
their final written notice.

Workers United has filed two charges of unfair labor practices
against Starbucks on behalf of workers in Eugene. On April 29th they
filed a claim saying that management forced workers to attend meetings
to spread anti-union sentiment, saying that unions are useless and implied
threats if workers unionized.

“Even absent the specifically unlawful statements made, the
repetitious nature of these meetings, which accomplished the Employer's
goal not through the substance of any argument but merely as a
demonstration of the Employer’s power over its workers, was inherently
coercive with regard to the exercise of Section 7 rights,’ Workers United
says in their charge.

On May 4, Workers United filed a claim stating that Starbucks
illegally fired a worker at the 29th & Willamette store in retaliation for
their union organizing. Cases for both charges are still ongoing.

IN PHOoTos: UO
MECHA HOSTS VIGIL
FOR VICTIMS OF THE
RoBB ELEMENTARY
SHOOTING

Photos: Fern

Photos: Solidarity News

May Day 2022

REFLECTIONS FROM THE EUGENE MAY DAY COALITION

One of the things most abhorent about Capitalism is the
way it not only adorns our bodies in hurt and harm but
prevents us from having the time, space, sense of safety, and
community support needed to ever dig that poison out of our
bodies. Coming together to provide room to breathe and heal
is an absolute must for us to survive and process the trauma
inflicted on us by fascist and capitalist formations. We dream
of solidarity and letting leftists know that many people can
and will build power and class consciousness. A coalition of
the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective, Eugene DSA, IWW, and the Student Insurgent started discussing and
reaching out to other groups in January. This helped make the process collaborative because there was time for
people to brainstorm and plan together, and these groups plan to continue in coalition.

On May Day, there was a mix of tabling, spontaneous and planned speeches, workshops, games, art, a reading
of The Witch’s Child, spoken word poetry, and live music. Lots of food was provided by Eugene Community
Fridge, Food Not Bombs, Burrito Brigade, and Solidaritea, and an untold number of plant starts were distributed

by Plant Swap and other community members. Around

a Berl | 300 people showed up, and people walking by learned

- ABE! | #2 of the history of May Day and working people from

“ABOL ISH y Ab Wm «many different leftist tendencies. Many stayed to join in

fm the efforts to build a better world. Adults and children

a | f API] ae" “ If laughed and relaxed while weaving a colorful May pole,

and a laughing child wearing an ACAB button and
holding a craft red rose popped bubbles a person in black
block made by spinning in a circle. Loud punk music
= played in the middle of downtown. People in cars driving
__ by looked on as if saying “What is going on?” Groups and
_ individuals distributed hundreds of zines and stickers. A
group screenprinted “Abolish Prison, Abolish Slavery”
on over 75 patches and shirts people brought with them.
People sat in the grass talking, reading radical zines, and
eating burritos, and there were no disruptions from ideological
opponents or from the state.

Our values are not merely political stances to be pursued within
electoral, propagandic, and campaign arenas but our every day §
lived values. Living these values collectively helps them to seep
into our bones and build our collective social forms. It felt like jm
a faire and political education. People were there to relax and be !
together on May Day, to take a collective breath in solidarity and |
dream of how we can live after capitalism and the colonial state
fall. These connections will be necessary in what we can only hop
is a very busy Summer. This event wasn't intend to be a direct ®
action like May Day’s of the past, present, and future because it
was designed to be a day of leisurely socializing. Our ability to act and react collectively in the face of ongoing
threats will always be dependent on our ability to build trust with and within our community. In times of bravery,
knowing you can trust those with you is essential to effective action and organization.

Voces del Sur: Latin American Poems

Translated by Serbal Vidrio

We Are Not People
Hugo Jamioy Juagibioy, Colombia, 2010

We are not people from an alien world

longing to keep living;

we are not people from a land

from which tomorrow they will say

we left.

Weare not a people brought from other places,

our roots are here.

We are men of the trees, we are a people, we are a community
born of the depths of the earth,

trees walking through the place

inherited from.our.taitas,

people caring for harmony and the balance of nature;
a people constructing a home

for our children

so they may live happily and naturally.

YentSang quematsmeneéeng

In This Earth Live the Stars

Elicura Chihuailaf, Chile, 1991; originally written in Mapudungun

In this earth live the stars.

In this sky sings the water

of imagination.

Beyond the clouds that rise

from these waters and these soils,

our ancestors dream us.

Their spirit—they say—is the full moon;
silence, their beating heart.

Tvfaci mapu mew mogeley wagvben

Tvfaci mapu mew mogeley wagvben
Tvfaci kajfv wenu mew vikantuley

ta ko pu. rakiduwam

Doy fvta ka mapu tani mvlen ta komv
xipalu ko mew ka-pvjv, mew
pewmakeifimu tayif pu fvcakece yem
Apon.kvyeh fey tafii am—pigekey

Ni hegvmkvleci piwke fewvla fivkvfvy.
Inye luardca yentsang quematsménénga a
jtsebosan bid jéftsebomnam; fi
ndocna luarentsa yentsang qumatsménéng f\ |
yéts mochantsuenan jtsichamuan } F
Béng tsénjamna ¢a; 4 a
ndone inye luaréngocan Puebl.shjajnéng es ita hs a
béng camuentséng fséndmén yentsang i
puebl fséndmén. a
Fshants jashenoiquentsan ‘onyhanéng Le
quem luarent§a oyjuay sosong :
taitang tojéftsayents bashejuan
uaman luar uaishanyang
uaishanyang y enyeonan yentSang.
Ché luar enagnmen Puebl
béngbe baseng
oyejuayéng y quetsomnéngca chamuetsiyenam.

Instructions for Changing the World
Subcomandante Marcos, Mexico, 1984-89
I
Build yourself a rather concave sky. Paint it green or brown, earthy and beautiful colors. Give it a splash of clouds to your liking.
Carefully hang a full moon in the west, let’s say about three quarters up its respective horizon. In the east slowly start rising a bright,
strong sun. Get men and women together, talk to them slowly and with love, and they'll set off on their own. Lovingly contemplate the
sea. Rest on the seventh day.
II
Bring together the necessary silences. Forge them with sun and sea and rain and dust and night. Patiently sharpen one end. Pick outa
brown uniform anda red scarf. Wait until dawn and then, with the rain about to clear, set out for the big city. When they see you, the
tyrants will flee in terror, trampling each other to escape. But... don’t stop!... the fight has just begun.

Instrucciones para cambiar el mundo

I

Construyase un cielo mas bien céncavo. Pintese de verde o de café, colores terrestres y hermosos. Salpiquese de nubes a discrecion.
Cuelgue con cuidado una luna Ilena en occidente, digamos a tres cuartas sobre el horizonte respectivo. Sobre oriente inicie, lentamente,
el ascenso de un sol brillante y poderoso. Reina hombres y mujeres, hableles despacio y con carifio, ellos empezaran a andar por si
solos. Contemple con amor el mar. Descanse el séptimo dia.
II
Retna los silencios necesarios. Forjelos con sol y mar y lluvia y polvo y noche. Con paciencia vaya afilando uno de sus extremos. Elija
un traje marron y un pafiuelo rojo. Espere el amanecer y, con la lluvia por irse, marche a la gran ciudad. Al verlo, los tiranos huiran
aterrorizados, atropellandose unos a otros. Pero... jno se detenga!... la lucha apenas se inicia.

ALTERNATE WORLDS: AGAINST CAPITALIST REALISM

Many words walk in the world. ... There are words and worlds which are lies and injustices. There are words and worlds which are
truths and truthful. ... In the world of the powerful there is no space for anyone but themselves and their servants. In the world we want
everyone fits. In the world we want many worlds to fit.
— EZLN, “Fourth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle,” 1996.
By SERBAL VIDRIO : conversation with cultures whose ways of :the world, and it is no coincidence that
Systems of oppression have} imagining the world differ radically from in the given case, the Western worldview
always had one thing in common: thei those of the colonial and capitalist global produces a highly unsustainable—and,
implication, presented as common-sense: core. ‘what’s more, an essentially alienating,
fact, that the way things are is not only the: The “ontological turn’ describes iexploitative, and vacuous—way of being
way they should be, but the way they must perspectives that depart from traditional jin the world.
be. The core assumption of all ideologies: notions of culture and instead address: The point is not to idealize non-
is that the construction of the world they: questions of being, treating all worlds and: ‘Western or non-capitalist cultures, nor
present constitutes an accurate picture! ways of being within them as equally real ito suggest that these cultures do not have
of the world as it really is; the image isi and valid. Thisturn suggests that weshould jlimits of their own. Instead, these examples
mistaken for the real. :shift our attention from ways of seeing toidemonstrate the possibility of engaging
Capitalist Realism, by Mark Fisher,! ways of being in the world. The difference ‘with the physical world in very different
is a popular book in leftist circles. Evenimay seem slight, but there are important !ways—far more sustainable, reciprocal,
those who haven't read it may be familiar:implications behind the suggestion iand respectful ways. The challenge now is
with its most famous line: “It’s easier to:that non-capitalist worldviews—which, itomakethesealternatives clearto people in
imagine the end of the world than the endiof course, are the vast majority in the capitalist societies. These alternatives not
of capitalism.’ The book asserts that, since! historical and ethnographic record—are ‘only allow people to question capitalism,
the fall of the USSR and the subsequentijust as real and important as capitalist but to imagine a world without it.
proclamation of “the end of history,’ the; ones. In dialogue with non-Western
logics of capitalism and liberalism have: This is not just a philosophical:and non-capitalist cultures, we in the
manufactured a sense that it is impossibledifference; the cultural inhabitation capitalist core can begin to conceive of
to imagine plausible alternatives tojof different conceptual worlds has ithe other-than-human not just as things
capitalism. Capitalism has learned toireal effects on the physical world we ito be exploited, but as beings with rights
disguise itself as an inevitability thatiall share. To borrow an example from ‘to be respected and to whom we owe
stands outside the particulars of history: the anthropologist Wade Davis, when ‘responsibilities. Beyond the environment,
and culture. Westerners (to generalize for a moment) :we should consider what other such
Yet despite capitalist ideology’s: ‘look at a mountain, they see a pile of icultures have to say about gender, race, and
claim to represent theend of history, cracksirocks, latent mineral wealth waiting class. Under current globally dominant
are unmistakably beginning to show. Withito be exploited. When an Indigenous ‘ideologies, these constructs are systems
each new crisis of capitalism and failure of:Andean (again to generalize) looks at iof oppression and legacies of colonialism.
liberalism—and we have witnessed many: ithe same mountain, they see an apu, a ‘But they don't have to be. Capitalism and
in recent years—these cracks only widen. spirit embodied by the mountain which ‘colonial thinking are mutually reinforcing:
The fragile contingency of capitalist: protects those it watches over, who in turn ito challenge one is to challenge the other.
realism, the depressingly unimaginative: have a duty to honor it. This difference in } Capitalism thrives on the failure
premise that there can be no alternative:seeing directly translates into a difference ‘of imagination, on a fatal disbelief in
to its status quo, has been increasingly:in being. The Westerner will upturn the the possibility of alternate ways of being.
laid bare. What’s more, the real-world!mountain to extract the mineral wealth of ‘It requires us to hopelessly submit to its
consequence of this failure of imagination: ithe earth, blasting and carving it apart to flattening vision of the possible and the
is to permanently alter global ecologies:turn a profit, indiscriminately destroying ‘real and does all it can to convince us that
and irreversibly undermine our futures.;ecosystems and Indigenous people’s there are no other options. It is the task
If those in the so-called “developed”:sacred landscapes in the process. The ‘of the radical, now as always, to seek out
countries—those most responsible for the: Indigenous Andean, by contrast, knows a ‘and present alternatives. When, as we
climate crisis—don’t soon figure out howivery different world, in which one is bound ‘increasingly find, the cultures of the global
to imagine and engage with the world iby relations of reciprocity and respect to mainstream have none to offer, we may
differently, the future will not improve. ithe landscapes one inhabits. ‘instead find solutions through engaging
If we are to learn to imagine: Numerous other examples of ‘with the countless cultures whose voices
outside the limited bounds of capitalistisuch differences in thinking abound. thave long been silenced and ignored by
realism, it must be through dialogue;Where one may see a forest as an abode virtue of the fact that they suggest viable
with people who have been silenced and iof spirits and a repository of vital energies, and vibrant alternatives to the way things
marginalized for centuries by the logics of: ‘the multinational mining firm, logging iare. If we fail to initiate these reflexive
colonialism and capitalism—two sides of company, or coca farmer see latent profit. idialogues, we may not have to imagine the
the same coin. Alternative ways to conceive ‘These differences in belief have tangible ‘end of the world at all—we may live it.
of the possible may be constructed in!and long-term effects on how we live in:

¢
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WE NEED TO THINK DEEPER ABOUT WHO WILL BE AFFECTED IF

ROE v WADE IS OVERTURNED
By: Alexa Wright

The draft opinion threatening to overturn Roe vs
Wade is not simply an attack on women. Before tackling this
nuanced subject it is important to understand the precedent
set by the 1973 decision. Norma McCorvey, known under
the pseudonym Jane Roe, was five months pregnant in 1970
when she desired an abortion. Henry Wade, the Dallas
County district attorney at the time, served as the defendant
in this case hence the name “Roe vs Wade.” With the help
of lawyers from her home county of Dallas, Texas, Linda
Coffee and Sarah Weddington, McCorvey secured the right
to abortion for all people until the fetus could survive outside
of the womb on Jan. 22 1973, with a 7-2 majority vote. On
May 2nd 2022, Politico published a leaked draft opinion
penned by Justice Samuel Alito displaying the court's
intention to overturn Roe and another landmark abortion
decision, Planned Parenthood vs Casey. This decision is
often viewed exclusively as an attack on women, however this
could not be further from the truth. This decision directly
targets all people who can get pregnant and zeros in on those
in poverty, people of color, and potentially members of the
LGBTQ+ community; It is a chilling display of the United
States’ descent into theocratic fascism.

Popular neoliberal feminism often views the scope
of feminism to only apply to “women’s issues’, this view of
feminism is a part of the problem. It is not a feminism for
all women but rather a feminism for the 1 percent, where
“girlboss” women are praised as progress for “breaking the
glass ceiling” while stepping on the backs of impoverished
women and people of color to reach it. Cinzia Arruzza
describes an alternative “Feminism for the 99 Percent” in
her manifesto, claiming that feminism should represent “all
who are exploited, dominated, and opressed” (Arruzza et.
al, pp. 14, 2019) by our capitalist society. Using this idea of
feminism to analyze the Supreme Court's attack on abortion
rights we see that not just women are affected by this
decision. Rather, this is an attack on all who can get pregnant,
minorities, and the poor. Capitalism is built on the grounds
of exploitation, this country’s infrastructure was built mostly
by slave labor, and a drastic racial wealth gap displays that
not much has changed. Two centuries of systemic racism in
the form of Jim Crow Laws, voter suppression, redlining, and
the over-policing of primarily black neighborhoods has led
the median income of a black family to be just 10% of the
median income of a white family (Urban Institute, Survey
of Consumer Finances, 2016). Modern capitalism seeks to
reinforce this oppression, forcing struggling BIPOC mothers
to birth a child they cannot take care of and then refusing to
allow them government assistance. This is not done without
reason, the cycle of exploitation that facilitates capitalism
requires children to be born into poverty and forced to

take low paying jobs in order to keep the economy moving.
With over 1 million workers lost during the pandemic, our
elites need more people to exploit, and how better to find
more workers than to create them via forced birth? It is not
uncommon for countries in late stage capitalism to begin
to swing right and restrict the rights and freedoms of the
workers, we are currently living in one of these periods. The
Roe v Wade decision will likely foreshadow several other
freedoms being stripped as well.

It is reasonable to fear that our rights pertaining
to situations other than abortion are at risk if Roe v Wade
is overturned. This is because Roe is protected under the
constitutional “right to privacy” which conservatives on
the Supreme Court have argued since the right to privacy
is not explicitly stated in the US Constitution is null. The
question of if the bill of rights protects the rights that are
not expressly stated in the Constitution is controversial.
The Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment is most
often cited in cases involving the right to privacy. The 14th
Amendment states, “No state shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens
of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of
the laws.” In the case of Roe v Wade, the court determined
that the right to privacy is fundamental and the state may
only intervene in abortions, with exceptions for the mother’s
health, after the point of viability (approximately 24 weeks).
The fact that Roe may be overturned on the grounds that
the right to privacy does not exist in the Constitution puts
many other landmark Supreme Court decisions on the
chopping block. These include: Griswold v Connecticut and
Eisenstadt v Baird (the right to contraception), Lawrence v
Texas (the right to be in a same sex relationship, phrased as
the right to perform sodomy), Loving v Virginia (The right
to interracial marriage), and Obergefell v Hodges (‘The right
to same sex marriage). These rights among others are also
common points of conservative attack, with anti-CRT and
LGBTQ+ book bans occurring across the nation. With these
factors in account, it would be reasonable to assume that an
increasingly radical right wing would overturn any of these
cases following the overturning of Roe v Wade.

The Roe vs Wade decision is a mark of the United
States’ descent into fascism. Historically, when fascist
authoritarian regimes start to take power they begin by
slowly stripping the rights of the people, weakening them
so they cannot fight back. Losing our rights to bodily
autonomy is a clear example of this. Fascist regimes often go
after education, forcing students to learn only what the state
wants them to learn. This is displayed clearly in the banning

of books relating to race, gender, and sexuality across the country. Authoritarian right wing policies such as the state of Texas
considering the death penalty for facillitating an abortion have already begun to rear their ugly heads. Another marker of a
fascist regime, high and militant police presence and unethical policing practices have existed in the US for a very long time
and state and federal governments continue to raise funding for police departments while their constituents are left starving
and without healthcare or shelter. The US police force would be the third largest military in the world behind the US and
China respectively if we compare it to modern militaries. We are not on the brink of a descent into fascism, it has already
begun.

There is no true equality and justice under capitalism. The system was developed by those with ideas of white
supremacy in mind, and facilitated on the backs of enslaved people. These sentiments are deeply rooted into the capitalist
economic system and everyone except the wealthiest elites are suffering to keep it running. This is especially true for BIPOC,
women, the LGBTQ+ community, and those in poverty. Neoliberalism will not save us, voting will not save us, revolution
will save us. Many liberals would argue that it is paramount that we keep abortion legal, but this is not enough. Cinzia
Arruzza describes this well in saying, “By itself, legal abortion does little for poor and working-class women who have neither
the means to pay for it nor access to clinics that provide it. Rather, reproductive justice requires free, universal, not-for-profit
health care, as well as the end of racist, eugenicist practices in the medical profession.” (Arruzza et. al, pp. 14, 2019) There is
no reforming an exploitative, racist, and opressive system; this system must be revolutionarily dismantled by the people so
that a new anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-facist, and just system may be formed and governed by the 99 percent, not the 1
percent of elites who currently run our governmental system.

Problematic Artists, Important Art: The Case of Ciro Guerra

By: Serbal Vidrio

There is a longstanding and possibly unresolvable
debate in art criticism over the importance of distinguishing
between art and artist. The school of New Criticism, developed
in the mid-twentieth century, sought to isolate works of art
as self-contained objects. In 1967 the postmodernist Roland
Barthes declared that “the author is dead,” signaling a view
of art in which the intentions and biography of the artist are
not only irrelevant, but interfere with the viewer’s ability to
admire and interpret works of art on their own merit. These
are just two expressions of what seems to be the dominant
answer popularly given to the question of art vs. artist—
that it is at best unnecessary, and at worst childish, to let
one’s opinion of the artist impinge on one’s appreciation of
the artwork, at least so long as whatever makes the artist
questionable is not implicit in the art they produce.

I don't necessarily take issue with this perspective
in every case. There are artists whose work I appreciate yet
whose political views or behaviors I disdain (likewise, there
are admirable artists who have produced bad art—is that a
reflection of their character?). Nonetheless, I don’t think we
should always accept the need for a distanced and “objective”
view. If you find yourself unwilling or unable to separate
your feelings about an artist from the art they produce—
particularly if the artist has done harm to people or causes
you identify with—then you are under no obligation to
second-guess yourself. That being said, I want to trouble
the waters a little and ask what happens when problematic
people create important art. When it is no longer a question
of whether an artwork is simply aesthetically “good,” but of
whether it is politically important, how do we negotiate the

tension between art and artist?

This piece was originally intended as a review of the
Colombian director Ciro Guerra and his work with several
Indigenous Colombian communities, with whom he directed
three films and a Netflix mini-series. Since first watching his
film Embrace of the Serpent (2015) in Colombia a few years
ago I have considered Guerra one of my favorite directors,
having since seen most of his filmography. So it came as
an unpleasant surprise (but maybe it shouldn't have been)
to discover that in 2020, eight women accused Guerra of
sexual harrassment and assault in the Colombian feminist
periodical Volcénicas. Now, I have no problem accepting
Guerras probable culpability and dismissing him as just
one more in a long list of prominent men who have abused
their power in the world of film and entertainment. There is
a familiar story here about Guerra, a man with a privileged
position in his society and with power and clout in the world
of cinema, gaining clemency from justice while his victims
are ignored and derided.

At the same time, I believe something has to be said
about the films that bear his name. However problematic
Guerra may be as a person, his films do something
important—and I think that’s true even (maybe especially) if
we remove the man from the equation.

Guerra has directed three films that portray several
Indigenous Colombian cultures: Zhe Wind Journeys (2009),
Embrace of the Serpent (2015), and Birds of Passage (2018);
He also worked ona Netflix mini-series called Green Frontier
(2019). What I find interesting and admirable about Guerra’s

films is that more than accurately portraying the Indigenous
cultures they concern, they were produced collaboratively
and with the direct involvement and approval of those
communities. In these films, Indigenous actors from cultures
such as the Wayuu of the Guajira Peninsula, the Arhuaco of
the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and the Ocaina, Ticuna,
Bora, Andoque, Yucuna, and Muinane of the Colombian
Amazon portray themselves and speak their native
languages on screen. Additionally, in Zhe Wind Journeys,
members of the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio
de Palenque also portray themselves and speak their native
Palenquero, the only Spanish-based creole language in Latin
America. What is important here is that few other films have
ever portrayed these communities and cultures, and those
that have may have done so without the participation and
consent of the communities themselves— a major problem
with Indigenous representation in media, both in the United
States and Latin America. That Guerra’s films not only portray
these communities, but do so respectfully and cooperatively,
is a mark of their originality and an example of how non-
Indigenous filmmaking with Indigenous people can be done
right.

What needs to be said at this point is that this is
a strength of the films that doesn’t depend on Guerra’s
character—in fact, I think it’s better if we consider it a strength
despite Guerra’s involvement. After all, more people than just
the director go into the making of a film, and since we are

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talking about Indigenous representation, we should focus our
appraisal not on Guerra but on the Indigenous communities
that the films concern. They are the ones to whom credit
belongs for having articulated their Indigeneity in the ways
they were able through the means and format available to
them. That Guerra had a hand in providing them with those
means matters less to me than that they took advantage of
the opportunity to do something original and important
with it. This is particularly important work at a time at which
the issues affecting the Indigenous communities portrayed
in the films—from genocide and ecocide to everyday racism,
narcotrafficking, and armed conflict—are increasingly
pressing, especially considering how little a non-Indigenous
audience is likely to know about such issues.

Ultimately, I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all
answer to the question I opened this essay with. Some art
can be appreciated in isolation from its artist and some can't.
And sometimes, like in the case of Ciro Guerra, the situation
is a little more complicated. I don't know why Guerra, a non-
Indigenous person, decided to make films about Indigenous
Colombia. I don’t think his reasons particularly matter. What
matters is that the Indigenous communities he worked with
instrumentalized the platform they were given to articulate
themselves, for the first time, on the big screen and for a
global audience. And for that I stand by the value of these
films as important pieces of art with political salience. As for
Guerra—well, he’s just like the rest of them.

chose your virgin

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John Bellamy Foster: State of the Revolution

Interview by: Eric Howanietz

One of the nations leading socialist thinkers and a key voice in the development of
social ecology, John Bellamy Foster talks to the Student Insurgent about surviving
capitalism, social transformation, and the importance of radical student uprisings.

“We are in a very unstable period, says John Bellamy Foster as a zoom call warbles in and out of sync
giving his voice that delayed synthesizer tone of a malfunctioning robot. For many this statement would not be a
stretch to claim but Foster consistently interweaves scientific reality and historical citation into whatever assertions
he offers. His replies to most questions are often long winded to say the least, but they contain the more important
and distinctly creditable character of being exhaustive. Over his 35-year tenure at the University of Oregon,
Foster has conspicuously been at the heart of many of the most dramatic movements in ecology and radical
environmentalism. Almost the entire historical arc of what has become known as the eco-terrorist movement
has developed in proximity to the ideas of social ecology and environmental socialism he helped establish. His
development of Marx’s Ecology in the early 2000’s was a turning point in radical thought and for many addressed
the what he describes as the “ecological rift of capitalism.” Now in semi-retirement at UO, Foster still teaches Marxist
Sociological Theory and Earth System Crisis, providing one of the few academic spaces where one can unravel the
secrets of that ubiquitous Penguin Classics copy of Marx’s Das Capital. As a badge of honor, he consistently boasts
of being on a right-wing list of the most dangerous professors in America.

The reality that Foster presents for us is not one of ambiguity. The most worrying reference he offers is the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which he notes was so dire in its predictions that its
public release was largely edited by participating governments. The first draft for policy makers was leaked and
is now publicly available on the Monthly Review website, a major Marxist sociological journal of which Foster
is editor. In the leaked IPCC report a scientific consensus agrees that a systematic transformation of social and
productive capacities must occur. It says that capitalism is unsustainable, socialist reorganization is probably
required, and a transition towards a low energy economy will be unavoidable.

For Foster this confirms that socialism is the solution to the climate crisis. But just as the complexities of
the climate crisis are unfolding we are now forced to deal with a revived threat of nuclear annihilation. It would be
disingenuous not to call the American intervention in Ukraine a proxy war with Russia, and with US military aid
to Ukraine exceeding Russia’s annual military budget we are without doubt in a period of dramatically escalating
tensions. This second layer of global instability has put humanity on a knife’s edge and the future dynamic of
socialism may be that of survival socialism in the wake of a collapsing capitalist hegemony.

Even with such a dire outlook, Foster sees points of partial successes amid the constant repression of an
imperialist world system. Often any experiments of alternative economic and/or political systems are attacked
by neo-liberal globalization. He expresses hope for Venezuela but recognizes that it is under siege from capital.
The majority of Venezuelans have seen improved conditions, developed resiliency to sanctions, and support
their socialist government. Much like Cuba this begs the question, why are they so effective at resisting capitalist
hegemony? For Foster this implies that power has been distributed to the previously impoverished majorities of
those countries. In many ways this has made the revolution irreversible, and he says “once one gives power to the
people they will defend it.” Often holding views contradicting the western media narrative, he also cites dramatic
progress in China, the incredible popularity of its government, the higher degree of political participation Chinese
people have compared to the American political process. “The ability to elect Biden or Trump is not a sign of
Democracy,’ Foster wryly comments.

Though one might find points to disagree on here, there can be no denial that there are alternative economic
and political systems other than the dominant global capitalist hegemony. Such qualitative differences become
apparent in instances like the World Wildlife Reports assessment that Cuba is the only sustainable country on
Earth.

From amore grass roots outlook Foster sees the Black Lives Matter movement as the most promising recent
social development. He is quick to cite how working-class people crossed the color line to participate in the George
Floyd uprising and this kind of mobilization was truly threatening to those in power. Ultimately Biden's reaction
to BLM was an 11% increase in spending on police and prisons. “There is no question that means repression,” says
Foster.

During the pandemic the development of what has been termed the “great resignation” and service workers
unionization has opened the door for what looks like a broader strategy of refusal and obstruction amid the
capitalist core. And despite a temporary lull in the climate change movement, people below 30 are angry about the
loss of their future, and are prepared for the type of mobilization necessary to address this issue. What Foster most
succinctly touches on is that those in power are most fearful of such mass mobilizations. “A mobilized population
will demand other things,” and he is quick to note how American and British mobilization during WWII created
dramatic shifts in power when popular demands weren't met after the war (this might be called the Churchill
effect).

Previous pitfalls that created second class citizens or sold supposed economic equality between unequal
participants should be recognized as the fallacies they are. Foster has no doubt that the ruling class is fully prepared
to take out the knives. He goes back to Fredrich Engels who defined the various calamities of the working class as
a system of, “Social Murder.” Only the broadest most unified movements possible will ensure peaceful change. But
with the social and ecological circumstances we find ourselves in, this will be the most immense struggle humanity
has ever seen, no matter the path taken.

Foster admits that much of the advanced Marxist theory courses remaining at UO are a remnant of the
student uprisings of the 1960's. This is also the legacy carried by past journals like the Sociological Insurgent and its
bastard inheritor the Student Insurgent. Much of todays UO faculty grew up in a much more conservative period.
“If you want a university with critical spaces it’s something students and faculty have to fight for,’ says Foster. One
of the most radical student movements that could take place on American campuses is a unified revolt for free
tuition and elimination of student debt. In such circumstances Foster has no doubt that Marxist theory would see
a resurgence in the American classroom. With a wink & nod Foster does not in any way call for student uprisings,
revolts, sit-ins, strikes, occupations, or revolutions at UO. But in the waning days of his tenure it can be plain to see
the encroachment neo-liberal policies that have negatively impacted faculty hiring decisions and student political
power.

John Bellamy Foster is in many ways a previous chapter of UO’s radical legacy. Echo of the Battle of
Seattle and the fury of Earth Liberation Front fall not too far from his footsteps. And from him come so many
of the ideas of a continuously expanding anti-globalization and
radical ecological movement. I can think of no better tools to be
equipped with while moving into this uncertain period of global
climate crisis.

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With thanks to...

Solidarity News, Serendipity, Rosie, banzai, Eric Howanietz,
Paris, Serbal Vidrio, Red Harris, Fern, J Ellis, Eugene May Day
Coalition, Avery, Curious Hippo, Maggie, Kate O'Mara, Jay,

The Prison Project Team, John Bellamy Foster and the Monthly
Review

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'TO THOSE WHO WISH TO FORCE GIRTHS AND SUBSERVIENCE;
TO THOSE WHO WANT TO PERPETUATE COERCION, ABUSE, AND
SUFFERING, WE ONLY HAVE THIS TO SAY:

I= ABORTIONS ARENT SAFE, THEN NEMHER ARE YOU”